For a list of nominees, click here
It what can only be called a major surprise, this year's 28th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were dominated by two of the ten soaps currently on the air.
CBS's As The World Turns led the early nominations with nine and ABC's All My Children earned eight nominations. The first wave of nominations included the Outstanding Leading Actor, Leading Actress and Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress categories.
The domination by these two alphabetically-first soaps may have some fans wondering," What about the rest of the alphabet?"
The nominations were read Wednesday, March 14th, in New York City's Rainbow Room. One of the readers, Josh Duhamel (Leo du Pres, All My Children) was visibly stunned when co-presenter Kassie DePaiva (Blair Cramer, One Life to Live) read his name as an Outstanding Supporting Actor nominee. "Josh," DePaiva read softly. "Josh! Are you dying? I'm dying!" This was Duhamel's first Emmy nomination for his work on All My Children.
Last year's world record-setting performance of 28 nominations by The Young and the Restless was not duplicated this year. The CBS soap pulled in only one of the main acting nominations, plus a nomination as Outstanding Drama Series. Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott) earned the show's only acting nomination.
The news was likewise dismal for General Hospital. The program, which earned its seventh overall win as Outstanding Drama Series last year, will have a chance to push the total to eight. That, however, was General Hospital's only nomination in the major categories. The program was shutout in all of the acting categories.
The Outstanding Lead Actress field features the names of five previous Emmy winners. Last year's winner, Susan Flannery (Stephanie Forrester) has a chance to win back-to-back statuettes. She is one of the few winners from last year to receive a repeat nomination. Other nominees include The Previous Year's winner Susan Lucci (Erica Kane, All My Children), two-time Supporting Actress winner Julia Barr (Brooke English, All My Children), Martha Byrne (Lily Snyder and Rose D'Angelo, As The World Turns) and Marcy Walker (Liza Colby Chandler, All My Children).
Among the men, there are also Emmy veterans. Four-time winner David Canary (Adam and Stuart Chandler, All My Children) is by Tom Eplin (Jake McKinnon, As The World Turns) and perennial nominee Peter Bergman (Jack Abbott, The Young and the Restless). These three are joined by Jon Hensley (Holden Snyder, As The World Turns), a former "Young Man" nominee in 1986, and John McCook (Eric Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful).
Those looking for new faces can look to the Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress categories. Yes, some of those nominated in these two categories have already won Emmys, but many of the nominees received their first nominations this year.
Hunt Block (Craig Montgomery, As The World Turns) may have appeared in three different roles on three different soaps over the past year, but his work on As The World Turns earned him an Emmy nomination. Block previously appeared as Guy Donahue on All My Children and Ben Warren on Guiding Light. Two-time Younger Actor winner Michael E Knight (Tad Martin, All My Children) and first time nominees Benjamin Hendrickson (Hal Munson, As The World Turns) and Michael Park (Jack Snyder, As The World Turns) round out the field.
The Supporting Actress field was also led by All My Children and As The World Turns stars. Cady McClain (Dixie Martin, All My Children) and Rebecca Budig (Greenlee Smythe, All My Children) were joined by Colleen Zenk Pinter (Barbara Munson, As The World Turns), Maura West (Carly Tenney, As The World Turns) and Leslie Kay (Molly Conlan, As The World Turns).
Newcomers graced the Younger Actor and Actress categories. Eden Riegel (Bianca Montgomery, All My Children), Terri Conn (Katie Peretti Frasier, As The World Turns), Annie Parisse (Julia Lindsay Snyder, As The World Turns) and Kristina Sisco (Abigail Williams, As The World Turns) all received their very first Emmy nominations this year. They'll vie against Adrienne Frantz (Amber Moore, The Bold and the Beautiful), a nominee last year.
Among the young men nominated for Younger Actor, Passions received its very first acting nomination Josh Ryan Evans (Timmy, Passions) will compete against David Lago (Raul, The Young and the Restless), Jesse McCartney (Adam Chandler, Jr., All My Children), Paul Taylor (Isaac Jenkins, As The World Turns) last year's winner David Tom (Billy Abbott, The Young and the Restless), and Justin Torkildsen (Rick Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful).
The main acting categories have not been so "closed" in recent memory. Only four soaps pulled in nominations in those categories. There are currently ten soaps on the air. Also of note is that very few of last year's winners received nominations this year; only Susan Flannery and David Tom have a chance to repeat. Last year's awards were nearly swept by performers from The Young and the Restless, however General Hospital performers also walked away with awards. This year, those two shows are virtual no-shows in the nominations, receiving a combined total of 4 acting nominations.
For the nominated performers, the real work begins. Nominees must pour through their work from 2000 and choose two episodes of work that they feel represent their best work. Those tapes will then be edited so that scenes in which the nominated performer does not appear are removed. Then, the tapes are sent to a judging panel where they are viewed and the winners are chosen.
As traditionally is the case, those soaps skipped over for acting nominations made a good showing in the technical field. One Life to Live scored big with seven technical awards, including nominations for Makeup and Hairstyling. Fledgling soap Passions tallied four awards nods, including the Outstanding Directing Team nomination.
All soaps secured at least two nominations with one exception - Port Charles. The half-hour ABC soap failed to earn any nominations in the traditional soap opera categories this year. The show did, however, earn a nomination in the Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Design category, a field open to entrants from all lines of daytime programming. The show instituted a change to its opening last year; the characters' names are displayed when the associated performer is shown in the opening sequence.
As expected from the acting nominations, All My Children and As The World Turns were both nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. General Hospital and The Young and the Restless, which have zero and one main acting nominees, are also nominated.
The Daytime Emmys ceremony will be held Friday, May 18th and will be broadcast on NBC.
